A/63/175 Country visits 7. With respect to fact-finding missions, the Special Rapporteur was to undertake a visit to Equatorial Guinea from 30 January to 8 February 2008; however, the Government requested postponement of the visit. In a meeting at the Human Rights Council on 5 March 2008, the Vice-Prime Minister for Human Rights assured the Special Rapporteur that the visit would take place between 18 and 26 October 2008. Dates for the visit to Iraq are still under consideration. The Special Rapporteur continues to express the wish that dates for the visit to the Russian Federation, originally postponed in October 2006, will be forthcoming. 8. The Special Rapporteur undertook a visit to Denmark, including Greenland, from 2 to 9 May 2008. He expressed his appreciation to the Government for the full cooperation extended to him and paid tribute to Denmark’s long-standing leadership in anti-torture efforts worldwide. He noted that no allegations of torture and very few complaints of ill-treatment were received during the visit. However, he regretted that a specific crime of torture is still missing in Danish criminal law. The hallmark of the prison system in Denmark is the “principle of normalization”, meaning that life inside reflects, to as great an extent as possible, life outside the prison. Taken together with an attentive approach to the concerns of detainees by prison staff, the result is generally a high standard of conditions of detention inside Danish prisons. The Special Rapporteur commended the Government’s efforts in carrying out successful awareness-raising campaigns on domestic violence and trafficking of women. In Greenland, action against domestic violence has so far not received adequate attention despite the severity of the problem. Notwithstanding the Government’s efforts to restrict the use of solitary confinement, the extensive recourse to this practice remains a major concern, particularly with respect to pre-trial detainees. The Special Rapporteur noted with concern allegations about United States Central Intelligence Agency rendition flights operating through Denmark and Greenland and plans to resort to diplomatic assurances to return suspected terrorists to countries known for their practice of torture. 9. The Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, together with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, visited Moldova, including the Transnistrian region, from 4 to 11 July 2008. The Special Rapporteurs expressed appreciation to the Government for its full cooperation and stressed that Moldova has made great progress in human rights protection since independence in 1991. They commended the adequate legal frameworks that have been put in place in regard to violence against women as well as to torture. In that context, they welcomed the recent law on preventing and combating family violence and the establishment of a national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. However, they noted with concern the significant gaps between the normative framework and the reality on the ground. They stressed in particular that violence against women had not received enough attention and that the protective infrastructure for victims of violence was insufficient. They also observed that ill-treatment during the initial period of police custody was widespread and that complaints mechanisms were largely ineffective. Whereas conditions in the detention centres under the Ministry of Justice had somewhat improved, conditions in police custody facilities were still a source of major concern. The Special Rapporteurs called for the effective implementation of existing 08-44075 5